Pothole Patrol: Report Potholes And See How Maryland's Potholes Are Fixed

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Wednesday, January 22, 2014
WBAL Radio

Is there a pothole on your street or in your commute to work? Send us a picture at news@wbal.com or send us a tweet at @wbalradio with #MDpotholepatrol and the location.

Ever felt your car dip into a pothole? It's not a great feeling and it causes great road issues and car problems, but who's in charge of filling these holes? These are the men that fill in potholes from day-to-day in Baltimore City as members of pothole patching crews for the Baltimore City Department of Transportation.

They can patch upwards of a hundred or more potholes a day across Baltimore City. "My first year I started, I did 250 holes and still had enough time to get lunch," says Shannon, a pothole patching crew leader. He believes those 250 pacthed potholes in one day is a record.

Here's the step-by-step process:

A supervisor will call them on the two-way with specific roads to repair. They also find potholes on their own.

They patrol a quadrant of the city in two big transportation department trucks looking for potholes to patch. One truck is filled with hot patch and the other truck has a arrow board.

Four men patch the potholes and one man drives the truck with hot patch. The other two men are in the truck that helps with traffic control. One is the driver and the other is a flagman.

It seems simple enough, but the art lies in securing the hole is filled. "With the metal at the end of the stick, we tap it down," one of the men explains. "It secures it, keeps it tight. It stays in the hole and stays safe."

Watch the process in the video above.

Potholes develop when water seeps below the road surface, freezes and expands. This pushes the pavement upward while the traffic above further stresses the roadway. When the pavement thaws, it gradually falls into the hole and eventually traffic chips away at and expands the pothole.

Maryland State Highway Administration crews are also out patrolling State roads and repairing potholes weekdays during non-peak travel times between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Recent rain and snow storms, as well as extreme fluctuations in temperature, have caused potholes to form on highways across Maryland.

SHA maintains 16,000 lane miles of interstate, U.S. and state numbered, non-toll roads in Maryland's 23 counties that carry almost three quarters of all traffic in the state. The roads take a constant beating from vehicles, accelerating the development of potholes. Generally, SHA crews will fill a pothole within one business day, unless it requires a more permanent, substantial repair, in which case it may take a few days to complete. On average, over the past five years SHA has spent approximately $2.5 million per year on pothole repairs.